OLD  CHINESE 
PORCELAIN 


-NRLF 


CO 
Q 


BYEOANMEW^ 


MASTERPIECES  OF 
HANDICRAFT  -  -  - 
General  Editor  T.  L.  Hare 

Each  Volume  contains  i6  Plates,  8  of 
them  in  Colour. 

The  Volumes  of  the  First  Series,  dealing 
with  Old  China,  are  by  Mr.  Egan  Mf.w. 

X.  OLD  BOW. 

a.  OLD  CHINESE  PORCELAIN. 

3.  ROYAL  SEVRES. 

4.  JAPANESE  PORCELAIN. 

5.  DRESDEN  (MEISSEN)  PORCELAIN. 

6.  CHELSEA  and  DERBY  CHELSEA. 


^O^fas'i6rpi6Q6S  o£ 


EDITED  BY 
T.  LEMAN  HARE 


OLD   CHINESE  PORCELAIN 


PLATE    I.-POWDERED    BLUE    WITH    COLOURED 
DECORATION.     Frontispiece 

The  middle  vase  is  a  Kang-he  example  of  sprinkled  blue  decorated 
with  various  marine  objects.  The  larger  fishes  are  in  red  ;  the 
smaller  designs  in  gold  show  other  fish  delicately  drawn  swimming 
through  weeds  and  waves.  In  most  specimens  of  powdered  blue 
the  gold  designs  are  worn  away  to  some  extent.  It  was  applied 
after  the  piece  had  been  through  various  processes  and  another 
exposure  to  the  oven  might  have  proved  a  disaster.  But  in  its  worn 
form  this  over-glaze  design  adds  depth  and  mystery  to  the  already 
fathomless  blue.  The  bottles  seen  on  either  side  are  also  of  the 
Kang-he  period,  and  show  characteristic  coloured  encunel  decoration 
in  reserves  of  white.  These  groups  of  flowers  and  rocks  and  the 
various  popular  symbols  show  very  effectively  against  the  powdered 
blue  background. 


F@M(SE]LMM 

BY 

EGAN  ME^^ 


LONDON  :  T-  C  •  &  EC  JACK 
NEW  YORK:  DODD  MEAD  &  C2 


I 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Plate 

I.  Powdered  Blue  with  Coloured  De- 
coration     Frontispiece 

Page 

II.  A  Rare  Ming  Vase 14 

III.  Ming  Figures 18 

IV.  Ming   Ewer,  Jar,  and  Base   of  Water- 

Pipe        24 

V.  Kang-he  Famille  Noire,  painted  with 

Five  Colours 30 

VI.  Kang-he  Figures  of  Birds ....  34 

VII.  Buddhistic  Figure  and  Two  Blue  Vases  40 

VIII.  Fuchien  Figures 46 

IX.  A  Vase  with   Symbols   and   the   Divine 

Kylin 50 

X.  Blue-and-White  Vases  and  Beakers        .  56 

XI.  Two  Kang-he  Figures        ....  60 

XII.  Two  Enamelled  and  Coloured  Plates      .  66 

XIII.  Large  Plate  and  Covered  Jars .       .        .72 

XIV.  Two   Famille    Noire    Jars   with   Covers 

and  a  Vase 78 

XV.  Hawthorn  or  Prunus  Pattern   .        .        .  82 
XVI.  Two    Kang-he    Trumpet- shaped   Vases 

and  Ming  Vase  and  Cover         .        .  90 

These  illustrations  are  taken  especially  for  this  book  from  examples  in  the 
British  Museum. 

9 


225718 


OLD   CHINESE   PORCELAIN 


CHAPTER  I 

AMONG  all  the  china-wares  of  the  world 
£\^  no  examples  are  so  aesthetically  satisfying 
and  interesting  as  those  of  the  Chinese.  The 
Celestial  poets  have  suggested  that  the  dis- 
covery belongs  to  the  far-off  days  before  Kubla 
Khan  decreed  a  stately  pleasure  dome  in  Pekin 
in  centuries  extremely  early  to  the  Christians. 
Just  how  early  and  where  the  Chinese  first 
found  and  used  the  china  clays  from  which 
can  be  made  what  is  called  the  true  or  natural 
porcelain,  is  not  greatly  material.  It  is  rather 
their  talent  in  the  manufacture,  and  their  inex- 
haustible art  in  the  decoration  of  their  wares, 
that  commands  our  willing  admiration. 

The  craft  of  pottery,  as  has  been  said,  is  of 
immemorial  age,  and  porcelain,  no  doubt,  de- 
veloped  from  the   earlier  earthenware.     Some 


12  OLD  CHINESE 

jOf  the  first  work  of  this  kind  is  supposed  to 
have  been  made  in  imitation  of  carven  jade  and 
other  stones.  From  the  days  of  the  Sung 
dynasty  the  Chinese  continued,  under  the 
patronage  of  their  princes,  to  produce  the  most 
perfect  and  beautiful  examples  of  porcelain. 
It  may  be  said  that  among  all  the  delightful 
vanities  that  the  world  of  old  ceramics  lays 
before  the  enthusiastic  collector,  there  is  none 
to  approach  the  original  and  incomparable  por- 
celains of  the  Celestial. 

The  earliest  pieces  are  now  almost  entirely 
lost  to  us,  but  we  have  at  least  plenty  of  seven- 
teenth- and  eighteenth-century  examples.  The 
blue-and-white,  the  blanc  de  Chine,  the  delicate 
egg-shell  of  various  periods,  the  families  of  black, 
of  yellow,  of  green,  and,  later,  of  rose,  the 
single  colours,  and  a  hundred  others,  are  still 
with  us.  One  great  advantage  of  Chinese 
porcelain  is  that  you  can  collect  one  thousand 
pieces  and  never  have  two  alike,  so  many  are 
the  periods  and  so  unlimited  the  ingenuity  of 
the  artists. 

The  craft  appears  to  have  prospered  in  China 
to   great  advantage   under  the   Ming  dynasty, 


PLATE   IL— A    RARE    MING   VASE 

This  beautiful  piece  is  painted  in  blue  underglaze  and  other  colours 
over.  A  phoenix  rests  beneath  the  conventional  and  decorative 
rock  from  which  springs  the  beautiful  flower  of  the  magnolia,  the 
petals  of  which  are  painted  in  white  enamel,  and  outlined  in  black 
after  a  fashion  that  gives  great  distinction  to  this  particular  class 
of  Ming  work.  The  phoenix  or  Ho-Ho  bird  combines  the  char- 
acteristics of  almost  all  feathered  bipeds,  but  it  has  divine  attributes 
as  well,  and  therefore  appears  in  many  honoured  ways  on  old 
Chinese  porcelain,  and  generally  with  excellent  decorative  effect. 


OLD   CHINESE  15 

or,  at  all  events,  during  certain  periods  of  it, 
for  that  dynasty  lasted  from  a.d.  1368  to  1648. 
But  under  the  present  reigning  house,  that  of 
the  Manchu  Tartars,  during  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  the  fine  work  of  the 
Ming  was  developed  even  further,  and  at  the 
present  time— although  not  perhaps  for  the 
European  markets— excellent  work  is  manufac- 
tured, and  the  glorious  traditions  of  the  China 
we  call  Old  Nankin  religiously  preserved. 

WORKS  OF  REFERENCE 

The  period  dealt  with  in  this  small  mono- 
graph on  an  enormous  subject  is,  with  a  slight 
side-glance  at  earliest  times,  from  the  Sung 
dynasty,  960  to  1279  ad.,  to  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century. 

The  books  published  in  England  which  will 
be  found  among  the  most  useful  and  interesting 
in  this  connection  are  as  under:— 

Those  volumes  in  Captain  Brinkley's  fine 
work  on  "Japan  and  China"  which  deal  with 
ceramics.  The  late  Mr.  Gulland's  two  volumes, 
"Chinese   Porcelain,"  with   many   hundreds  of 


i6  OLD   CHINESE 

valuable  illustrations.  The  loving  labour  of  an 
enthusiastic  collector  strengthened  and  sustained 
with  notes  by  Mr.  Larkin,  the  practical  and  re- 
liable dealer.  Dr.  Stephen  W.  Bushell's  works 
on  Chinese  Art,  containing  an  enormous  quantity 
of  facts  stated  with  grace  and  lucidity.  Mr. 
Hobson's  chapters  in  "  Porcelain  of  all  Countries." 
The  notes  of  the  late  Sir  WoUaston  Franks  of 
the  British  Museum,  to  whom  we  owe  so  much 
in  regard  to  Chinese  Art.  The  catalogues  of 
the  various  museums— but  this  list  might  be 
lengthened  until  it  included  all  books  on  the 
subject  written  during  the  last  decade,  for  they 
are  excellent  each  in  their  particular  way. 

TECHNICAL  TERMS 

In  Mr.  Gulland's  volumes  is  given  a  list  of 
the  more  or  less  technical  words  ordinarily 
used  in  regard  to  the  subject  and  their  mean- 
ing. Perhaps  one  may  repeat  and  add  to  some 
of  these.  The  paste  may  be  described  as  the 
vessel  as  it  leaves  the  potter's  hands  before 
being  baked.  The  term  hard  paste  may  be 
said  strictly  to  belong  to  all  Chinese  porcelains, 


1 


PLATE  III.— MING    FIGURES 

One  of  the  favourite  quarries  of  the  modern  collector  of  antique 
Chinese  porcelains  is  the  kind  of  Ming  figure  here  shown.  The 
colours  are  at  once  brilliant  and  distinguished,  the  statuettes  them- 
selves usually  represent  the  Taoist  immortals,  and  often  gods  more 
or  less,  at  play.  Fu,  Lu,  and  Shou — happiness,  rank,  longevity — are 
frequently  found  represented  in  this  ware,  which  is  at  once  rare  and 
brilliant,  distinguished  and  decorative. 


B 


'^^ 


Xj 


l^'**^* 


'< 


OLD  CHINESE  19 

although  soft  paste  is  sometimes  spoken  of. 
The  hard  paste  means,  of  course,  the  body 
of  the  real  porcelain  as  produced  in  China 
when  the  non-fusible  clay  called  Kaolin  was 
combined  with  a  fusible  stone  called  Petuntse. 
This  produced  the  so-called  Natural  porcelain, 
as  against  the  various  pseudo-porcelains  made  in 
Europe,  and  now  called  soft-paste  chinas.  Soft 
paste  of  a  different  kind  appears  to  have  been 
made  in  China,  but  only  to  a  small  extent 

MANY  AUTHORITIES 

Captain  Brinkley  congratulated  the  French, 
and  later  the  Americans,  on  their  taste  for 
Chinese  soft  paste  in  the  form  of  the  mono- 
chromatic wares,  and  those  decorated  with 
blue  sous  couverte^  such  as  the  Celestials 
themselves  chiefly  admired.  But  the  soft  paste 
is  a  somewhat  misleading  title.  Dr.  Bushell 
disposes  of  it  shortly  by  saying  in  effect — hard 
paste  contains  only  natural  elements  in  the 
composition  of  the  body  and  the  glaze;  soft 
paste  is  a  body  formed  by  the  artificial  com- 
bination of  various  materials  agglomerated  by 


20  OLD  CHINESE 

the  action  of  fire,  in  which  the  compound 
called  a  frit  has  been  used  as  a  substitute  for 
natural  rock.  No  soft-paste  porcelain,  as  here 
defined,  has  ever  been  made  in  China.  But  in 
some  excellent  notes  on  the  various  periods  of 
"  blue-and-white "  the  same  authority  speaks 
of  a  finely  crackled  glaze  used  in  "the  fore- 
runners of  the  so-called  soft  paste  "  about  1426 
-1435.  Gulland  gives  many  photographs  of  ex- 
amples of  the  classes  of  soft  paste  bought  so 
keenly  by  American  collectors  from  the  early 
celadon  to  the  light-in-weight  specimens  in  blue- 
and-white  of  Kang-he,  Keen-lung,  and  Yung- 
ching.  Mr.  Hobson,  among  others,  considers 
that  the  soft  paste  should  be  called  soft  glaze, 
and,  technically  speaking,  he  is  undoubtedly 
right.  On  examination  any  piece  of  Chinese 
"soft  paste"  from,  say,  the  most  authentic 
American  collection,  will  show  the  body  to  be 
really  hard.  But  the  phrase  has  come  to  have 
a  certain  meaning  to  those  few  who  desire  these 
wares,  and  no  other  term  will  serve. 

The  Biscuit  is  the  paste  after  it  has  been 
baked,  but  before  it  has  been  glazed.  Such 
a  biscuit  body  is  often  used  in  Chinese  figures 


OLD  CHINESE  21 

in  juxtaposition  to  the  glaze,  the  biscuit  being 
left  bare,  as  it  were,  so  as  to  represent  the 
flesh,  while  the  glaze  is  used  to  show  the  robes 
and  decorative  materials.  The  glaze  is  the 
composition,  varying  in  its  constituent  parts,  put 
upon  the  paste  or  biscuit  to  give  it  a  vitreous 
appearance ;  the  glaze  may  be  plain,  or  contain 
a  pigment  clear  or  opaque.  Enamel  is  the 
colour  when  applied  mixed  with  a  glassy  flux.  It 
is  often  superimposed  on  the  glazed  piece,  usually 
in  a  design  showing  the  white  groundwork, 
but,  in  one  sort  of  porcelain,  it  is  applied  to 
the  entire  surface,  so  that  the  object  becomes 
a  completely  enamelled  piece.  Slip  is  a  white 
porcelain  composition,  not  unlike  the  coloured 
enamels,  but  somewhat  thicker.  This  is  fre- 
quently used  as  a  decoration  on  coloured 
grounds,  largely  those  various  delicate  shades 
known  as  celadon.  The  naturally  artistic 
people  of  France  were  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  the  warm  admirers  of  all 
Chinese  porcelains,  and  thus  the  various  ex- 
amples almost  invariably  bear  agreeable  and 
allusive  French  titles.  Celadon  as  the  name  for 
old  porcelains  of  the  various  shades  of  green 


22  OLD   CHINESE 

resembling  jade  is  a  good  example  of  this  fact. 
It  owes  its  origin  to  the  quaint  figure  in  the 
seventeenth-century  LAstree  by  d'Urf6.  This 
hero,  the  courtier  in  pseudo-rustic  dress,  the 
amorous-shepherd-man-of-the-world,  *'  Celadon" 
always  appeared  on  the  stage  in  green,  which 
varied  through  many  tints  of  blue-green  to 
green-grey.  When  the  Chinese  porcelain  of 
this  colour  appeared  before  the  fashionable 
French  world  they  gave  it  the  name  of  their 
favourite  shepherd  of  sophisticated  comedy. 
But  so  that  the  affair  should  not  be  too  simple, 
celadon  is  also  used  as  the  term  for  the  sort  of 
glaze  of  any  Chinese  porcelain  which  hides  the 
substances  of  which  the  vessel  is  made.  These 
two  uses  of  the  word  have  now  been  accepted 
so  long  that  any  change  would  be  difficult, 
otherwise  single  glaze  or  whole  glaze  might 
perhaps  serve  in  place  of  the  second  meaning 
of  celadon. 


PLATE    IV.— MING    EWER,    JAR,    AND    BASE    OF 
WATER-PIPE 

The  ewer  in  centre  is  elaborately  painted  in  colours  on  white 
ground  with  designs  of  fruits  and  flowers.  On  the  neck  there  are 
two  five-clawed  dragons  and  two  seal  characters :  Wan,  10,000  ;  and 
Shou,  longevity.  There  is  also  the  mark  of  the  period  1 573-1 620. 
The  shape  is  one  popular  with  the  Persian  and  Indian  buyers  at 
that  time,  and  might  have  belonged  to  the  same  foreign  owner  as 
the  base  of  a  water-pipe  which  stands  next,  and  was  no  doubt  made 
for  other  than  Chinese  buyers.  The  square  vase  with  cover  is  also 
of  the  Ming  style,  but  is  a  class  of  piece  which  has  been  greatly 
reproduced  in  various  periods. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  subject  of  marks  on  Chinese  porcelain 
is  as  difficult  as  it  is  alluring.  One  is 
almost  tempted  to  say  that  there  are  no  marks 
worth  a  moment's  consideration,  and  yet  with 
study  much  may  be  gained  by  clearly  under- 
standing them.  The  Chinese  and  Japanese 
authorities  place  no  reliance  on  the  date  marks, 
except  when  they  substantiate  the  opinion  they 
may  have  formed  of  a  piece  of  porcelain  from 
other  causes — such  as  paste,  glaze,  decoration, 
and  so  forth.  In  such  cases  the  mark  becomes 
conclusive  evidence. 

MARKS  AND   RE-MARKING 

The  various  classes  of  marks  include  year 
periods,  such  as  the  reign  of  a  sovereign,  and 
hall  marks  which  show  the  place  of  produc- 
tion or  the  studio  from  which  the  piece  came. 

It  is   generally   stated   that   the   period    marks 

25 


26  OLD   CHINESE 

were  first  used  in  the  eleventh  century,  and 
continued  with  various  lapses  through  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Apart 
from  the  date  and  hall  of  production  signs  there 
was  also  a  number  of  symbolic  marks,  such  as 
the  leaf,  the  fungus,  the  peach,  the  symbols 
of  the  eight  precious  things,  and  so  forth, 
all  largely  used  in  the  Kang-he  period,  which, 
however,  do  not  greatly  help  the  collector,  for 
they  belong  to  all  time. 


WESTERN    INTEREST 

The  introduction  of  Oriental  porcelains  into 
Europe  came  slowly.  The  Chinese  caravans 
carried  their  native  china — which  was  supposed 
to  turn  colour  and  break  if  filled  with  poison — 
into  Persia  and  Asia  Minor  in  very  far-off  days, 
and  the  Arabs  effected  some  trade  with  the 
Celestials  as  early  as  our  ninth  century.  But 
it  was  not  until  the  sixteenth  century,  when 
the  Portuguese  began  their  vast  Eastern  under- 
takings, and  early  in  the  seventeenth,  when  the 
Dutch  estabhshed  their  Oriental  trade,  and  later, 


OLD   CHINESE  27 

about  1640,  when  the  East  Indian  Company  of 
this  country  increased  their  operations,  that  the 
fine  porcelains  shipped  from  Canton  began  to 
be  seen  generally  in  Europe.  The  desire  for 
Oriental  wares  grew  with  the  possession  of 
them,  and  the  Portuguese,  the  Dutch,  and  the 
English  developed  the  trade  rapidly  during  the 
seventeenth  century. 

Various  authorities  have  classified  the  Chinese 
productions  in  the  following  chronological  form, 
with  a  statement  of  the  decoration  employed  in 
each  period.  First,  the  primitive,  the  Sung 
and  Yuan  dynasties,  960-1367.  At  this  time  the 
pieces  were  not  painted,  but  glazed  in  six 
different  ways — namely,  single-coloured  glaze, 
crackled  and  uncrackled,  flambe  glazes,  souffle 
glazes,  and  glazes  of  several  colours.  Second, 
the  Ming  period,  1368-1643.  At  this  time  porce- 
lains were  painted  in  colours,  sometimes  under 
glaze  in  cobalt-blue,  copper-red,  or  in  five  or 
more  over-glaze  colours,  sometimes  in  under- 
glaze  and  over-glaze  together.  Another  section 
shows  single-colour  grounds  decorated  in  colours, 
and  ornament  in  white  slip  over  blue  and  brown. 
Yet  another  form  is  in  gold  over  an  iron-red, 


28  OLD   CHINESE 

in  mixed  enamel  colours  on  crackled  or  mono- 
chrome backgrounds,  and  in  medallions  of  the 
well-known  Chinese  forms.  Third,  the  Kang-he 
reign,  1662-1722,  when  the  various  sections  in- 
cluded etched  patterns  and  embossed  designs, 
open  work  or  reticulated  pieces,  and  open  work 
in  the  shape  of  grains  of  rice  filled  in  with  thin 
glaze,  became  the  fashion.  Laque  burgaut4 
was  then  invented,  and  imitations  of  many  mate- 
rials, such  as  agate,  marble,  jade,  and  patinated 
bronze,  were  made.  Veined  woods,  carved 
lac,  and  so  forth,  were  also  copied  cleverly  in 
porcelain.  Indeed,  it  has  been  said  of  this  and 
the  following  periods  that  the  Chinese  could 
reproduce  almost  any  object  in  their  ceramic 
wares.  Fourth,  the  period  of  Yung-ching  and 
Keen-lung,  1723-1795,  when  foreign  designs 
were  largely  used.  This  era  produced  four 
marked  varieties  of  porcelain — namely,  plain 
white,  that  painted  with  blue,  which  had  been 
of  course  a  specialty  of  the  Kang-he  period,  and 
the  various  enamel  families  which  were  brought 
to  great  perfection,  and  also  examples  which 
were  afterwards  decorated  in  Europe.  Thus, 
from  this  short  statement,  it  may  be  seen  that 


PLATE  v.— KANG-HE  FAMILLE  NOIRE  PAINTED  WITH 
FIVE  COLOURS 

Very  characteristic  examples  of  this  family  may  be  seen  in  the 
two  jars  and  covers,  showing  floral  designs  on  a  ground  of  black 
washed  with  green  enamel.  They  belong  to  the  best  period  of  the 
work,  and  are  among  the  finest  examples.  But  beautiful  as  they 
are,  it  was  the  desire  of  the  craftsmen  to  suggest  an  earlier  period, 
and  the  large  vase  shows  the  mark  of  the  Emperor  Ching-hwa  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  whose  porcelain  was  sought  for  under  Kang-he. 
Although  more  ancient,  and  therefore  more  beloved  by  the  Chinese, 
the  earlier  work  is  no  more  satisfying  than  the  beautiful  production 
in  Kang-he  famille  noire.  It  is  reproduced  in  our  day,  but  with  singu- 
larly poor  effect. 


I 


OLD  CHINESE  31 

those  who  admire  Chinese  porcelain  have 
before  them  an  enormous  field,  but  it  is  one 
in  which  the  cunning  of  the  potter  and  the 
skill  of  the  artist  leave  no  room  for  boredom 
or  satiety. 


CHAPTER   III 

THERE  are  many  romantic  stories,  as  I 
have  said,  of  the  antiquity  of  Chinese 
porcelains,  and  a  couple  of  thousand  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era  was  not  at  one  time  con- 
sidered too  remote  a  date.  But  modern  inquiry 
has  not  been  able  to  find  any  evidence  of  porce- 
lain before  the  Tang  dynasty,  6i8  to  220  a.d. — 
and  very  little  then.  With  the  Sung  Emperors, 
960  to  1259  A.D.,  we  come  into  a  more  reliable 
period.  The  few  very  early  pieces  of  porcelain 
still  remaining  are  of  that,  probably  the  initial, 
era  of  the  craft.  This  is  the  view  of  such  acute 
modern  technicists  as  Mr.  Burton,  who  has 
himself  carefully  examined  the  best  authenti- 
cated specimens  of  wares  attributed  to  the 
Sung,  and  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that, 
as  he  says,  "We  are  here  in  the  presence  of 
the  very  birth  of  Chinese  porcelain,  when  the 
first  steps  were  being  taken  which  ultimately  led 

to  the  appearance  of  the  perfect  ware."    Captain 

33 


PLATE    VI.— KANG-HE    FIGURES    OF    BIRDS 

The  stork  resting  on  a  rock  is  very  pleasing  in  design  and  colour, 
and  the  cocks  combine  those  qualities  of  naturalism  in  detail  and  de- 
corative unity  which  were  fully  developed  at  this  period.  The  curious 
rocks  which  support  the  cocks  are  so  arranged  as  to  form  incense 
burners,  a  very  frequent  use  for  decorative  pieces  of  this  character. 
All  these  birds  of  the  Kang-he  period  show  close  study  of  nature,  and 
are  produced  with  no  small  animation  and  vigour. 


OLD   CHINESE  35 

Brinkley  tells  very  fully  the  story  of  the  various 
traditions  of  early  porcelains  prior  to  the  Sung, 
but  these  affairs  are  hardly  within  the  practical 
politics  of  the  modern  collector. 


THE  SUNG,  960-1279,  AND  YUAN,  1279-1367  a.d. 

Even  this  period  need  only  be  glanced  at, 
for  the  few  examples  known  are  safely  housed, 
and  the  most  fortunate  hobby-hunter  cannot 
hope  to  happen  on  them  unexpectedly.  These 
pieces  often  show  in  the  form  and  decoration 
that  they  were  copied  from  earlier  bronzes,  and 
they  possess,  combined  with  a  certain  dignity 
and  beauty,  some  qualities  of  clumsiness,  and 
hint  at  an  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  craft. 
The  colours  are  simple  glazes,  and  not  painted 
on  under  glaze.  Translucence  is  usually  absent, 
and  the  pieces  substantial  of  make.  The  Sung 
dynasty  principally  produced  seven  classes  of 
ware,  some  of  which  were  of  a  semi-porcelain 
character,  and  some  are  said  to  have  fore- 
shadowed the  flamM  wares  of  later  periods. 
Those  colours  which  are  now  called  celadons, 
pale  blue  to  light  green,  belong  to  this  time. 


36  OLD   CHINESE 

Up  to  our  thirteenth  century  a  earthenware  or 
stoneware  was  preferred  to  hard  porcelain,  but 
both  the  colours  and  appearance  of  all  the 
china  of  this  time  have  been  more  or  less 
closely  copied  since,  and  thus  its  characteristics 
have  passed  into  other  and  more  easily  acces- 
sible periods. 


THE  MING,  1368-1643  AD. 

The  first  Emperor  of  this  dynasty,  Hung- 
Wu,  rebuilt  the  enormous  factories  of  Ching-td- 
chen  in  the  province  of  Kiangsi,  and  after  that 
time  these  works  retained  the  monopoly  of 
the  craft.  The  Royal  orders  were,  as  Dr.  Bushell 
says,  conceived  on  a  magnificent  scale :  26,350 
bowls  with  30,500  saucers  to  match,  6000  ewers 
with  6900  wine-cups,  and  680  large  garden  fish- 
bowls,  were  some  of  the  items  included  in  a 
Court  order  of  the  year  1554. 

Early  Ming  celadons  were  not  unlike  those 
of  the  Sung ;  but  with  the  passage  of  time  many 
improvements  were  effected,  until  the  old  clumsy 
qualities  were  left  behind,  and  a  sophisticated 
and  beautifully   decorated  ware  was    produced, 


OLD   CHINESE  37 

which  set  the  type  for  almost  all  future  work. 
Examples  in  the  museums  show  the  character- 
istics of  the  Ming  wares  to  have  been  a  marked 
richness  and  feeling  for  beauty  in  the  cosmo- 
politan sense.  At  South  Kensington  the  bal- 
uster vase,  with  turquoise  and  white  on  a  dark 
blue  ground,  shows  the  early  spirit  of  the 
period.  Cobalt-blue  was  greatly  favoured  under 
the  Ming,  and  used  in  many  ways.  In  the  early 
fifteenth  century  the  **  Mohammedan "  blue  was 
introduced. 


CELESTIAL  REPRODUCTIONS 

As  Disraeli  said  of  English  literature,  the 
most  remarkable  feature  of  Celestial  work  is  its 
reproductiveness.  The  earliest  examples  have 
been  copied  again  and  again  in  various  cen- 
turies by  the  Chinese  themselves,  and,  as  I  have 
pointed  out,  they  have  not  hesitated,  in  those 
cases  where  marks  showing  the  dynasty  and 
reign  were  used,  to  reproduce  these  exactly. 
Thus  the  work  of  the  collector.  Celestial  or 
European,  is  not  of  the  easiest.  But  for  the 
fact    that    many   seventeenth-   and    eighteenth- 


38  OLD   CHINESE 

century  copies  are  as  pleasant  to  look  upon,  and 
as  agreeable  to  the  sense  of  touch,  as  the 
originals,  the  collector's  self-imposed  task  would 
be  a  heart-breaking  one.  In  this  connection  it 
has  been  said  that  we  can  refer  most  of  the 
old  specimens  of  Chinese  porcelains  that  are 
seen  in  collections  to-day,  even  when  they  have 
earlier  dates,  to  the  Kang-he  period,  1662-1722. 
Perhaps  the  best  way  to  distinguish  the  old 
from  the  newer  is  to  study  original  examples  in 
public  or  private  collections.  This  is  not  a  very 
new  suggestion,  I  fear;  but  it  is  a  sound  one. 
The  counterfeits  most  likely  to  come  before  a 
modern  collector  are  very  largely  Japanese  or 
European.  Hungary  and  France,  and  I  think 
Holland,  show  considerable  cleverness  in  these 
reproductions,  which  we  should  admire  more 
freely  if  they  did  not  so  often  become  imposi- 
tions. But  those  who  are  accustomed  to  the 
sight  and  touch  of  originals  will  not  be  greatly 
disturbed  by  a  growing  trade  in  spurious 
Oriental  wares,  for  those  to  whom  the  know- 
ledge is  important  will  soon  acquire  sufficient 
skill  to  differentiate  the  thing  that  is  from  the 
thing  which  ought  to  be.     How  useful  this  in- 


' 


PLATE   VII.— BUDDHISTIC    FIGURU    AND    TWO 
BLUE    VASES 

The  statuette  is  of  an  early  type,  which  has  been  greatly  reproduced, 
this  example  probably  belonging  to  the  eighteenth  century,  as  do  the 
two  self-coloured  vases  on  either  side.  These  pieces  are  shown,  as 
all  Chinese  porcelains  should  be,  on  the  stands  designed  for  their 
use.  Frequently  the  ebony,  or  lacquer,  or  silken  stand  is  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  composition  of  the  object,  and  when  the  two 
pieces  are  separated,  more  than  half  the  decorative  effect  is  lost. 


,...;a^ UiL 


OLD   CHINESE  41 

formation  may  be,  and  how  dismaying  the  lack 
of  it,  is  proved  frequently  now  in  the  more  im- 
portant auction-rooms. 


DECORATION 

During  the  many  hundreds  of  years  that  the 
Chinese  have  produced  their  porcelains  there 
have,  of  course,  been  considerable  changes  in 
the  styles  of  ornamentation.  And  yet  when 
once  they  entered  upon  the  period  of  painting 
upon  the  biscuit  or  over  the  glaze  certain  con- 
ventionalised forms  became  as  it  were  perennial, 
and  were  handed  from  one  reign  to  another  or 
from  one  generation  of  potters  to  the  next-but- 
one.  Ornamental  designs  are  almost  always 
used  to  convey  a  religious  meaning,  or  to 
suggest  good  wishes  for  the  future  and  con- 
gratulations on  the  past.  The  use  of  shadows 
and  the  ordinary  rules  of  perspective  are  un- 
known to  these  ceramic  artists,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  their  beauty  of  line,  their  exqui- 
site proportions,  and  their  sense,  of  decoration 
make  them  par  excellence  the  painters  of  por- 
celain. 


42  OLD   CHINESE 

EARLY   DAYS 

The  first  decorators  aimed  at  producing 
the  shapes  and  ornaments  of  the  already  old 
bronzes  and  the  designs  of  ornamental  jade  and 
polished  stones.  Indian  mythology  lent  its  in- 
fluence through  the  Buddhist  religion,  and  old 
Persian  and  Syrian  pottery  gave  a  thousand 
hints  to  the  Celestial  artists.  Conventionalised 
forms  of  gods  and  animals,  flowers,  fruits,  and 
leaves  gradually  gave  way  to  more  naturalistic 
representations  as  the  single-colour  glazes  and 
indented  patterns  were  superseded  by  the  paint- 
ing of  designs  on  the  biscuit.  In  the  later  Ming 
period  the  old  desire  to  reproduce  the  eff'ect  of 
some  other  material  began  to  disappear,  and 
porcelain  for  porcelain's  sake  was  made  in  enor- 
mous quantities.  The  decorations  then  most  in 
vogue  were  of  various  distinct  classes. 

THE  THREE   RELIGIONS 

One  of  the  most  marked  is  that  of  the  figure 
subjects  connected  with  the  three  most  import- 
ant  religions   of  China — Confucianism,   Taoism, 


OLD   CHINESE  43 

and  Buddhism.  The  first  deals  mainly  with 
mortals  who  have,  with  the  aid  of  the  literati 
of  their  period,  put  on  immortality.  Confucius 
himself,  the  God  of  War,  and  the  Spirit  of 
Literary  Culture,  are  the  three  most  generally 
in  evidence.  Taoism  gives  the  porcelain  de- 
corators an  enormous  number  of  subjects. 
Among  these  the  most  appreciated  divinities 
are  Fu,  Lu,  and  Shou — Happiness,  Rank, 
Longevity — to  whom  is  added  the  ruler  of  the 
Taoist  paradise,  a  gracious  and  gentle  lady,  Hsi 
Wang  Mu.  There  are  also  many  cheery  gods 
and  many  with  demon  faces;  there  are  the 
eight  immortals  who  patronise  various  profes- 
sions or  businesses,  and  there  are  other  more 
or  less  important  personages.  But  however  dif- 
ferent their  action  upon  life  or  their  value  in  a 
system  of  philosophy,  they  are  accompanied  in 
the  art  of  the  decorator  of  porcelain  with  many 
graceful  symbols,  and  are  invariably  of  admir- 
able line  and  proportion.  Of  the  Buddhist  figures 
the  same  may  be  said.  Vary  as  they  may,  they 
are  always  decorative  and  artistically  pleasing. 
Buddhism  attacked  China  in  its  vigorous  youth, 
but  did  not  take   any  strong  hold    until  early 


44  OLD   CHINESE 

in  our  Christian  era.  The  eighteen  Buddhist 
apostles  are  greatly  depicted,  especially  perhaps 
Ho-Shang,  a  jolly  personage  supposed  to  be 
the  last  incarnation  of  the  Buddhist  Messiah 
— the  same  figure  as  the  agreeable  Hotei, 
god  of  Contentment  to  the  Japanese.  Equally 
popular  is  the  goddess  of  Mercy,  Kuan-Yin,  a 
charming  and  beneficent  figure  usually  holding 
a  child.  Six  more  or  less  mythic  animals  find 
their  way  to  Nirvana,  and  have  therefore  been 
adapted  by  the  Chinese  artist  to  the  uses  of 
pottery.  The  ndga  of  India  becomes  the  dragon 
of  China,  and  then  passes  into  many  forms ;  he 
bears  three  claws  in  his  first  state,  and  four  later, 
and  five  under  the  Ming  and  present  dynasties. 
It  is,  of  course,  a  well-known  emblem  of  the 
emperors.  The  Indian  gar'uda  becomes  a  com- 
posite bird  of  gorgeous  appearance,  combining 
many  other  birds  from  the  peacock  to  the 
swallow.  This  quaint  and  complicated  ornitho- 
logical specimen  is  very  adaptable,  decoratively 
speaking,  and  is  a  symbol  of  the  empresses 
in  particular  and  of  brides  in  general.  The 
lion  is  caused  by  the  Chinese  artist  to  take 
on   strange   forms,  and  is  usually  a  gentle  and 


PLATE  VIII.— FUCHIEN    FIGURES 

Since  the  early  Ming  days  the  statuettes  produced  in  various 
tones  of  white  at  Fuchien  have  been  greatly  admired.  The  three 
religions  of  China — Confucianism,  Taoism,  and  Buddhism — are  largely 
represented  in  the  blane  de  Chine  of  this  factory,  and  many  of  the 
divine  beasts  and  symbols  are  beautifully  made  in  the  wares  of 
Fuchien.  These  have  of  course  varied  somewhat  throughout  the 
ages,  but  the  characteristics  of  a  fine  satin-like  glaze  over  a  perfect 
biscuit  will  be  found  in  all  examples. 


I 


OLD   CHINESE  47 

playful  creature  in  his  divine  shape.  The  Kylin 
owes  something  to  the  lion,  but  has  so  many 
origins  as  to  become  a  purely  mythical  decorative 
beast,  who  looks  rather  unkindly  to  the  Occi- 
dental eye,  but  is  warmly  appreciated  by  the 
Chinese.  The  hare,  the  horse,  and  the  elephant 
are  also  immortals,  and  appear  on  porcelain  in 
various  ways.  Elephants'  heads  often  form 
handles,  and  horses  of  queer  design  are  seen  at 
play,  but  the  hare  does  not  make  a  very  dis- 
tinguished appearance  on  china  ware.  The 
many  other  decorative  motifs  suggested  by  the 
religion  of  Buddha,  the  systems  of  Confucius 
(551  Bc.)  and  Lao-Tzu  (604  b.c),  form  a  long 
list,  to  which  must  be  added  many  classical 
stories  and  lighter  legends. 

In  the  latter  periods  of  the  Ming  the  porce- 
lain painters  sometimes  gave  a  glimpse  of  the 
luxury  and  elegance  of  Court  life,  or  the  amuse- 
ments of  what  would  now  correspond  to  our 
house-parties  in  the  country.  The  tall  and 
aristocratic  girls  formed  charming  subjects  for 
decoration  within  and  without  their  beautiful 
rooms.  Pieces  thus  ornamented  were  appreci- 
ated early  by  the  Dutch  traders,  although  they 


48  OLD   CHINESE 

gave  them  the  name  of  **Lange  Lijsen,"  which 
may  be  said  to  add  to  Oriental  aesthetics  a 
touch  of  Batavian  grace.  To  call  these  Celes- 
tial maidens  long  Elizas,  to  reproduce  in  common 
delft  the  distinguished  beauties  of  the  East, 
to  vulgarise  the  artistry  of  the  Orient,  was  the 
fortune  of  the  traders  of  the  Netherlands,  and 
they  carried  the  affair  through  with  enthusiasm, 
and,  incidentally,  gave  Northern  Europe  the  best 
pieces  of  Oriental  porcelain  it  received  before 
the  first  sacking  of  Pekin.  After  the  pictures 
of  social  and  child  life  under  the  Ming  came 
the  warlike  decorations  of  the  great  Kang-he 
period  and,  later,  the  purely  ornamental  conven- 
tions elaborated  in  the  interests  of  European 
trade. 

Plant  forms  with  a  symbolic  meaning  deeply 
rooted  in  one  or  other  of  the  Chinese  religions, 
and  hinting  of  compliments  and  good  wishes, 
are  as  the  sands  of  the  sea  in  number.  Each 
season  has  its  flower.  The  decorative  moutan 
peony  represents  spring ;  the  lotus,  summer  ;  the 
chrysanthemum,  autumn ;  and  the  wild  plum  is 
for  winter.  The  citron,  peach,  and  pomegranate 
stand  for  happiness,   long  life,  and  the  family ; 


PLATE    IX.— A    VASE    WITH    SYMBOLS    AND    THE 
DIVINE    KYLIN 

The  quadrangular  vase  in  the  centre  shows  the  ornaments  or 
symbols  in  relief.  The  mystical  trigrams  known  as  Pa-kwa  are 
placed  either  side  of  the  circular  emblem  Yang-ying.  Whether  con- 
sidered as  symbols  or  merely  as  decoration  the  result  is  equally 
satisfying.  The  piece  shows  beautiful  glaze  and  colour,  and  is  a 
type  reproduced  frequently  from  earliest  times.  The  Kylins  are 
coloured  sea-green  and  brown  with  a  blue  glaze  background,  and 
show  all  the  peculieirities  of  their  conventional  character.  These 
pieces  are  intended  to  hold  joss-sticks,  and  have  doubtless  served 
before  many  altars.  The  expression  which  appears  repulsive  to  the 
Western  eye  is  welcomed  as  an  aid  to  good  fortune  by  the  Celestial. 


,    >      >       >      0 

•    »        > 


OLD   CHINESE  51 

the  fungus,  the  gourd,  the  sweetflag,  the  pine, 
and  the  bamboo,  with  many  others,  are  to  be 
found  on  Chinese  porcelains  of  all  periods, 
always  with  excellent  effect.  A  glance  at  the 
illustrations  will  show  that  the  main  divisions 
of  decoration,  say  the  figure-pieces,  the  land- 
scapes, the  purely  decorative  treatment  of  plant 
forms,  the  naturalistic  handling  of  fruit,  flowers, 
and  the  like,  the  use  of  characters  and  symbols 
as  a  means  of  ornament,  were  employed  in  all 
periods,  and  still  hold  the  field.  A  race  which 
is  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  wisdom  of  Con- 
fucius and  the  immemorial  philosophy  of  their 
ancestors  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  true  to  the  artistic 
qualities  of  their  middle  national  life,  and  remain 
untouched  by  the  vitiating  breath  of  Western 
culture. 

EUROPEAN   DESIGNS 

How  unfortunate  the  Chinese  artist  becomes 
when  he  attempts  to  adapt  himself  to  our 
taste  in  design  is  shown  in  an  interesting 
department  of  the  subject  of  porcelains.  At 
the  British  Museum,  and  elsewhere,  are  many 
examples    of    the     eighteenth-century    pieces, 


52  OLD   CHINESE 

which  were  produced  by  the  Chinese  at  the 
suggestion  of  European  traders  or  residents. 
From  the  time  of  the  Jesuits,  when  the  Chinese 
attempted  to  reproduce  in  etched  Hne  on  plates 
and  dishes  the  story  of  the  Cross,  even  to  their 
efforts  to  model  well-known  resident  foreigners 
and  their  families,  every  piece  may,  I  think,  be 
said  to  be  an  artistic  failure.  Occasionally,  with 
simple  armorial  bearings,  they  were  fairly  suc- 
cessful, but  frequent  mistakes  in  colours  in  the 
coat  and  lettering  of  mottoes  and  so  forth  occur. 
As  a  whole  our  desire  to  win  the  Chinese  por- 
celain painter  to  the  methods  of  the  West  was 
a  complete  failure,  and  a  fortunate  one.  Our 
own  painting  on  Chinese  porcelains  is  a  less 
important  affair.  Where  we  have  attempted  to 
reproduce  the  spirit  of  Celestial  work  we  have 
not  greatly  charmed,  and  in  those  cases  in 
which  we  have  been  content  to  paint  Chinese 
porcelain  in  the  European  manner  we  have 
satisfied  Western  taste  without,  I  am  sure,  con- 
vincing the  decorators  of  Ching-te-chen  that 
their  artistic  civilisation  is  a  failure,  and  the 
traditions  of  the  Ming  played  out. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  famous  works  of  Ching-t6-chen  appear 
to  have  absorbed  all  the  other  porcelain 
factories  of  any  importance  in  the  Empire  of 
China  with  the  exception  of  Fuchien.  This  is 
perhaps  only  true  as  regards  their  reputation 
in  Europe,  for,  no  doubt,  in  the  long  course  of 
years,  some  other  potteries  produced  porcelain 
for  home  consumption ;  many  of  course  put  forth 
a  vast  quantity  of  pottery. 

BLANC  DE  CHINE 

Fuchien  had  produced  a  stoneware  in  the 
Sung  period,  and  the  works  which  had  long 
ceased  to  be  used  were  revived  under  an 
early  Ming  Emperor.  These  later  productions 
were  of  the  fine  white  material  so  long  admired 
by  the  connoisseurs  originally  of  Spain  and  then 
of  all  countries.  First  produced  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  it  continued  to  be  made  down  to  the 

S3 


54  OLD   CHINESE 

middle  of  the  eighteenth.  But  with  a  growing 
demand  for  Chinese  ''antiques"  the  State  has 
attempted  to  fill  the  want,  and  blanc  de  Chine 
is  once  more  produced  in  more  or  less  the  old 
forms  in  its  native  country  and  elsewhere.  It 
is  also  imitated  very  badly  by  some  European 
producers  of  pseudo-antique  wares.  The  old 
ware  is,  however,  excellently  finished,  and  is 
translucent  when  held  up  to  the  light;  the  new 
lacks  these  qualities  to  a  great  extent.  Dr. 
Bushell  notes  that  the  old  ware  differs  widely 
from  other  Oriental  porcelains,  the  paste  of 
smooth  texture  being  of  a  creamy-white  tint 
resembling  ivory,  while  the  rich,  thick  glaze, 
which  has  a  satiny  aspect,  like  the  surface  of 
soft-paste  porcelain,  blends  closely  with  the 
paste  underneath.  Among  the  most  charac- 
teristic early  forms  produced  in  this  white  ware 
are  to  be  found  the  excellently  modelled  repre- 
sentations of  Buddhist  divinities  and  heroes  who 
had  become  saints  and  sages.  Among  these,  the 
famous  goddess  Avalokitesvara  was  frequently 
and  beautifully  produced.  During  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  when  the  Jesuits  had 
made  many  converts  to   Christianity  in  Japan, 


1 


PLATE    X.— BLUE-AND-WHITE   VASES    AND    BEAKERS 

A  typical  set  of  covered  jars  and  vases  in  Kang-he  porcelain,  such 
as  was  made  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  for  Western  buyers. 
When  the  collector  speaks  of  "  blue-and-white,"  it  is  of  this  style 
and  this  period  that  he  usually  thinks.  The  colour,  the  technique, 
the  drawing,  and  the  form  of  these  pieces  are  extremely  beautiful, 
but  there  are  signs  by  which  you  shall  know  that  they  were  not 
produced  by  the  Chinese  artist  for  the  Chinese  patron.  For  example, 
these  sets  of  five  pieces  were  suggested  by  the  traders  for  the  decora- 
tion of  Dutch  mantel-shelves :  Chinese  houses  do  not  offer  any  space 
for  such  an  arrangement. 


OLD   CHINESE  57 

these  figures  and  statuettes  of  Avalokitesvara, 
the  Goddess  of  Mercy  or  of  Maternity,  had 
been  imported  from  Korea  or  China,  and  were 
used  to  represent  the  Holy  Virgin.  Divinity, 
grace,  beauty,  and  serenity  are  shown  in  these 
finely  wrought  statuettes,  and  indeed  all  the 
early  work  of  Fuchien  is  curiously  finished  and 
satisfying  to  the  aesthetic  sense.  It  is  said  that 
it  was  not  so  greatly  appreciated  in  its  native 
land  as  in  Japan  and  Europe,  especially  in  Spain 
and  France.  But  its  constant  use  in  China,  and 
the  fact  that  it  was  especially  employed  in  the 
representation  of  the  gods,  and  the  production 
of  the  cups  and  joss-sticks — holders,  and  vessels 
of  a  religious  and  ceremonial  character— point  to 
the  fact  that  the  Chinese  were  not  unappreciative 
of  this  particular  branch  of  their  porcelain.  At 
the  present  time  the  gods  and  goddesses, 
especially  Kuan  Yin,  the  divine  "hearer  of 
prayers,"  and  the  other  perfect  figures  and 
clearly  modelled  pieces,  are  greatly  sought  for. 
Their  importance  in  a  scheme  of  modern  decora- 
tion is  now  greatly  appreciated.  The  reserved 
and  quiet  beauty,  both  of  their  form  and  colour, 
have    made   many    enthusiastic  worshippers  of 


58 


OLD   CHINESE 


the  various  early  productions  of  Fuchien.  Some 
little  time  ago,  when  admirers  of  porcelain  per- 
mitted themselves  to  be  dithyrambic  on  the 
subject,  in  the  old  French  forms  of  verse,  the 
following  villanelle  was  written  in  its  praise : — 

Collectors  may  still  make  merry 
With  their  families— Tost  and  green. 
Pure  beauty  lies  in  the  very 
Heart  of  the  blanc  de  Chine. 

There  are  ivory,  alabaster, 
And  whites  that  are  argentine — 
Mere  chromatic  disaster 
Compared  with  the  blanc  de  Chine. 

Whites— viveous,  candid,  snowy, 
Pearly,  and  cream,  we've  seen. 
These  are  but  Posi  and  showy 
On  the  shelf  near  our  blanc  de  Chine. 

Emperors,  divers  and  splendid. 
Long  dead  in  the  days  that  have  been, 
Were  heroes  who  proudly  defended 
The  glories  of  blanc  de  Chine. 

Gods,  perfervid  and  mighty; 
Goddesses,  kind,  serene — 
Perfect  as,  purer  than,  Clyte— 
Still  live  in  the  blanc  de  Chine. 


PLATE    XI.— TWO    KANG-HE    FIGURES 

These  personages  are  coloured  with  a  brilliant  turquoise  and  other 
blues,  and  their  faces,  once  coated,  are  now  starred  with  gold.  In  the 
photograph  this  gives  rather  an  unpleasing  appearance,  but  in  the 
original  the  pieces  are  very  attractive.  They  probably  represent 
immortals  of  considerable  importance,  but  their  symbolism  is  not 
very  clear,  and  they  must  be  classed  merely  as  figures  of  gods  made 
late  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


OLD   CHINESE  6i 

An'  you  will,  snatch  our  Mandarin  treasures, 

And  shatter  our  cUadon  fin, 

But  spare  us  our  last  of  pleasures — 

The  adorable  blanc  de  Chine. 

For  those  who  are  in  London,  and  would 
care  to  study  representative  examples  of  the 
various  periods  of  Fuchien,  the  collection  given 
to  the  nation  by  Sir  Wollaston  Franks,  and 
now  admirably  displayed  at  the  British  Museum, 
is  always  available.  There  one  finds  numerous 
figures  of  the  Chinese  deities,  libation  cups, 
incense  burners,  and  sacred  Kylins,  and  other 
animals.  Almost  all  these  figures  are  of  exqui- 
site proportion  and  form,  and,  to  those  familiar 
with  the  technique  of  various  porcelains,  present 
an  ensemble  of  especial  perfection.  Little  is 
known  of  the  sculptors  who  may  have  made 
these  pieces,  but  Mr.  Burton,  speaking  of  the 
beautiful  modelling  of  many  of  them,  says  that 
although  they  have  been  blocked  out  in  moulds, 
it  is  obvious  that  every  individual  object  has 
been  finished  with  a  modelling  tool.  He 
adds,  "The  only  ornameiit  is  such  as  can  be 
stamped,  tooled,  or  engraved  in  the  paste,  or 
added  to  the  pieces  in  the  shape  of  modelled 


62  OLD  CHINESE 

flowers,  a  style  of  design  greatly  fancied  by  the 
early  European  porcelain  makers,  and  largely 
copied  at  St.  Cloud,  Meissen,  and  Bow."  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  that  although  Fuchien  only  pro- 
duced one  kind  of  porcelain,  and  that  only  in 
varying  grades  of  white,  its  fame  spread,  and 
the  graceful  objects  of  its  production  became 
known  and  cared  for  in  every  corner  of  the 
ceramic-collecting  world. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  European  collector  has  given  a  great 
deal  of  attention  to  the  famous  "Blue- 
and- White"  period,  which  came  in  with  the 
close  of  the  Ming  dynasty,  and  may  be  said  to 
have  almost  ended  with  the  reign  of  Kang-he, 
who  ruled  for  the  long  period  between  1662  and 
1722.  During  this  space  of  time  the  fine  flower 
of  Chinese  blue-and-white  porcelains  was  pro- 
duced. All  that  had  gone  before  led  up  to,  and 
all  that  has  followed  since  declined  from,  this 
epoch  of  ultimate  success.  These  victories 
were  not  only  in  one  direction,  but  applied  to 
the  many  classes  of  ceramics  then  produced, 
and  embraced  such  diverse  productions  as,  say, 
the  laque  burgaute^  and  the  single-coloured 
glazes,  the  brilliant  enamels,  and  the  various 
and  vigorous  examples  of  pure  blue-and-white. 
Early  in  the  reign  were  developed  the  apple- 
green    and    the    famous    ruby-red    glazes,    the 

latter    being    the    forerunner    of    the    delicious 

63 


64  OLD   CHINESE 

peau  de  peche.  The  famille  verte  was  then 
also  largely  made,  and  towards  the  end  of  the 
reign  the  now  greatly  appreciated  Jamille  rose. 


HAWTHORN  OR  PRUNUS  PATTERN 

The  famous  jars  which  were  ornamented 
with  sprays  of  prunus  blossom  on  a  ground  of 
pulsating  cobalt  have  been  a  great  delight  to 
Western  connoisseurs.  They  are  said  not  to 
have  been  so  greatly  admired  by  the  original 
producers.  On  the  vivid  blue  ground  lines  and 
facets  were  often  added,  giving  further  depth 
to  the  colouring,  and  suggesting  sparkling 
cracked  ice.  The  little  story  of  these  pieces  is 
pretty  well  known.  These  pots  with  covers 
were  used  to  hold  the  fragrant  gifts  for  New 
Year's  Day,  and  were  decorated  with  the 
design  which  most  clearly  suggested  the  re- 
newal of  the  year  or  spring  to  the  Chinese 
imagination.  An  immense  variety  of  prunus 
decoration  was  used  at  this  period,  always 
with  charming  effect.  The  beauty  and  grace 
of  such  pieces  were  always  appreciated  in 
Europe,  and  many  examples  have  been  held  in 


PLATE  XII.— TWO  ENAMELLED  AND    COLOURED    PLATES 

These  are  excellent  examples  of  the  Kang-he  enamel  work  in 
colours,  which  was  developed  and  improved  in  the  following  periods 
of  Yung-ching  and  Keen-lung.  Such  historical  and  mythological 
scenes  were  very  popular  with  the  artists  of  the  period,  and  form 
extremely  decorative  designs,  which  were  used  more  or  less  in  much 
of  the  delicate  enamel  work  which  followed  in  the  next  two  reigns. 


E 


OLD   CHINESE  67 

Dutch  families  even  unto  our  own  time.  But 
it  was  reserved  for  our  generation  to  pay 
nearly  j£6ooo  for  one  example  from  the  Huth 
cabinet.  It  has  been  said  that  Mr.  Huth  gave 
a  very  small  sum  for  it,  but  it  is  a  little  late 
in  the  day  to  hope  to  happen  upon  such  a 
piece  again,  after  so  casual  and  fortunate  a 
fashion.  However,  the  £5900  which  was  given 
for  this  example  is  a  wholly  artificial  price. 
The  South  Kensington  Museum  possesses  an 
equally  beautiful  specimen  of  the  plum  blossom 
jar,  which  was  purchased  for  £230.  The  Salting 
collection  shows  some  delightful  specimens  of 
this  wild  prunus  ornament  applied  to  vessels 
other  than  the  so-called  ginger  jars,  such  as 
bottles  of  many  shapes,  and  various  vases. 
The  style  of  decoration  has,  of  course,  been 
used  in  many  ways,  and  reproduced  many 
times  since  the  period  in  question — 1662-1722. 
Even  at  the  present  time  very  great  quantities 
of  the  so-called  Hawthorn  ginger  jars  are 
manufactured  and  sent  to  Europe,  but  they  are 
totally  without  interest  to  the  collector:  the 
method,  manufacture,  the  colour — everything  is 
different.      The    cobalt-blue    and    the    brilliant 


68  OLD   CHINESE 

white  of  Kang-he  have  passed,  and  the  vessels 
which  remain  to  tell  of  the  accomplishment  and 
grace  of  that  period  are  certain  to  command  a 
high  price.  One  little  point  in  regard  to  the 
jars  may  be  noted.  It  is  that  the  top  or  cap 
has  often  been  replaced  with  a  modern  piece, 
usually  made  in  China,  and  frequently  copying 
the  colouring  and  texture  of  the  original  very 
closely.  This  suggests  the  possibility  of  the 
clever  Chinese  potters  of  to-day  producing, 
if  they  wished,  something  very  nearly  like  the 
Kang-he  pieces,  which  now  command  such  ex- 
tensive prices.  This  ability  obliges  the  amateur 
collector  to  examine  very  closely  these  objects 
when  they  appear  in  the  sale-rooms,  although 
the  experienced  eye  finds  no  difficulty  in  dis- 
tinguishing the  antique  at  a  glance. 

OLD   BLUE-AND-WHITE 

It  was  during  the  sixty  years  of  Kang-he's 
reign  that  the  export  trade  with  Europe  de- 
veloped to  a  large  extent.  Under  the  Ming, 
Persia  and  India  had  received  Chinese  ceramic 
wares,  but  the  trade  of  the  Western  countries 


OLD   CHINESE  69 

had  not  been  sought.  But  at  this  later  time 
the  Canton  merchants  were  busy  with  orders 
from  the  Dutch,  and  the  potters  of  Ching-te- 
chen  received  many  hints  as  to  the  particular 
kind  of  wares  which  would  be  most  popular 
with  Occidental  customers. 

Up  to  about  1712  these  exports  were  almost 
entirely  of  blue-and-white  porcelains,  and  it  is 
to  this  period  that  we  owe  the  very  large  quan- 
tity of  sets  of  three  tall  jars  with  covers  and 
two  beakers  which  now  form  part  of  every  collec- 
tion of  Kang-he.  The  colour,  the  drawings,  and 
the  form  of  the  ornament  on  these  pieces  are  ex« 
tremely  beautiful,  but  there  are  many  ways  by 
which  you  shall  know  that  they  were  not  pro- 
duced by  Chinese  artists  for  a  Chinese  patron. 
The  Celestial  craftsman  did  not,  I  think,  make 
his  vases  in  sets,  and  rarely  produced  pieces 
without  some  symbolism  in  the  design  or  form, 
and  some  definite  utilitarian  object  or  some 
near  connection  with  the  religious  ritual  of 
his  nation.  The  objects  for  export  to  Europe 
lack  the  essential  qualities  of  Chinese  work 
undertaken  for  the  Chinese,  and  assume  that 
character  of  ornament  for  ornament's  sake  which 


70  OLD   CHINESE, 

is,  in  a  subtle  sense,  destructive  of  the  higher 
offices  of  art.  But  although  the  most  char- 
acteristic note  of  Celestial  work  may  not  be 
found  in  the  Kang-he  blue-and-white  porce- 
lains produced  for  the  European  markets — 
Western  models  were  supplied  very  early — great 
variety  and  infinite  grace  remain.  Such  col- 
lections as  that  of  Mr.  Salting,  on  loan  at  South 
Kensington  Museum,  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
many  forms  of  beauty  that  this  cobalt  colouring 
could  be  made  to  show.  In  London  and  Paris, 
at  least,  there  are  frequent  exhibitions  of  large 
collections  of  the  Kang-he  period  which  suggest 
very  clearly  the  sort  of  examples  that  some 
aesthetically-minded  merchant  prince  of  Amster- 
dam might  have  brought  together  when  these 
pieces  were  coming  freshly  from  the  potteries 
of  Ching-te-chen  and  the  port  of  old  Nankin. 


SINGLE   COLOURS 

One  of  many  remarkable  qualities  of  Chinese 
porcelain  is  that  as  you  pass  from  one  class  of 
work  to  another,  each  seems  more  admirable 
than  the  last. 


PLATE    XIII.— LARGE    PLATE    AND    COVERED    JARS 

These  are  fine  examples  of  the  Kang-he  coloured  work,  which  led 
on  to  the  developments  of  this  style  during  the  next  two  reigns. 
The  plate  is  decorated  with  a  very  fanciful  rendering  of  butterflies, 
ripe  millet  on  the  stork,  and  an  elaboration  of  the  favourite  rock 
motif.  The  covered  cups  show  examples  of  those  tall  and  graceful 
Chinese  ladies  engaged  in  social  pleasures  which  the  Dutch  traders 
named  "  Lange  Lijsen." 


OLD   CHINESE  73 

Beautiful  and  decorative  as  are  the  blue-and- 
white  examples  of  Kang-he,  the  single  colours 
produced  in  the  same  period  are  equally  won- 
derful and  interesting.  During  this  long  reign 
the  Imperial  factories  were  under  the  guidance 
of  at  least  four  remarkable  directors,  and  each 
produced  different  but  equally  splendid  varieties 
of  porcelain.  The  first  of  these  superintendents 
was  the  originator  of  the  widely  appreciated 
single-colour  porcelain,  called  after  him  by  the 
name  of  Lang-yao.  Brilliant  red  and  apple- 
green  are  the  two  colours  of  this  ware.  The 
first,  now  generally  known  by  its  French  title 
of  sang^  de  boauf,  was  the  result  of  experiments 
intended  to  recapture  the  then  lost  colour  of 
antiquity — the  sacrificial  red  of  1426-1435.  The 
porcelain  of  this  style  is  technically  perfect. 
The  glaze,  rich  in  colour  and  in  feeling,  is 
completely  under  the  control  of  the  potter,  and 
conforms  to  the  limitations  of  space  imposed 
upon  it  with  perfect  correctness.  The  Lang- 
yao  ware,  whether  in  the  varying  shades  of 
oxide  of  copper,  from  blood  red  to  pale  ruby, 
or  in  the  beautiful  apple-green,  is  always  finely 
and    wonderfully    made.      This    perfection    has 


74  OLD   CHINESE 

often  been  attempted  since  without  complete 
success.  Among  the  other  single  colours  of 
this  victorious  period  are  the  various  shades  in 
the  key  of  blue,  which  reach  from  the  delicate 
clair  de  lune  to  the  deep  lapis-lazuli  and  the 
mazarin. 

POWDERED   BLUE 

A  pleasing  department  of  these  single  colours 
is  that  remarkable  blue  which  was  blown  on  to 
the  porcelain  through  gauze,  and  often  thus 
used  as  a  groundwork  for  those  "reserves"  in 
white,  on  which  designs  were  applied  in  various 
ways.  The  powdered  blue  has  become  an 
especial  department  of  collecting,  and  many 
seek  only  for  specimens  of  this  work,  of  which 
a  number  of  kinds  may  be  found.  Very  fre- 
quently this  ground  is  decorated  all  over  with 
fine  lines  in  gold.  In  this  connection  it  often 
happens  that  decorative  use  is  made  of  the 
design  of  fishes  in  movement,  or  again  purely 
conventional  forms  are  employed.  Plate  I. 
shows  three  photographs  of  examples,  but,  as 
with  other  departments  of  Chinese  ceramics,  a 
collection  of  some  twenty  pieces  should  be  seen 


OLD  CHINESE  75 

together  to  judge  of  the  resource  and  cunning 
of  the  artists.  The  list  may  be  continued  to  in- 
clude various  lustrous  blacks  and  browns,  such 
as  chocolate,  bronze,  cafi  au  laity  dead  leaf, 
and  old  gold;  the  turquoise-blue  of  several 
shades,  such  as  the  kingfisher ;  the  purple  glaze 
and  the  tiger  skin,  which  is  formed  by  many 
colours  in  combination.  Examples  of  all  these 
superb  glazes  may  be  found  in  most  of  the 
museums  and  private  collections.  They  were 
at  one  time  chiefly  imported  by  the  Dutch,  but 
probably  also  by  the  English  and  other  so- 
called  Indian  trading  companies.  Such  pieces 
were  also  greatly  appreciated  by  the  Chinese 
themselves,  and  possessed  a  far  greater  vogue  in 
their  native  country  than  the  Kang-he  "blue- 
and-white"  and  the  blanc  de  Chine,  which  the 
Dutch  and  English  delighted,  and  delight,  to 
honour. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  Kang-he  period,  which  was  so  rich  in 
the  vivid,  shimmering,  various  blue-and- 
white,  so  victorious  in  its  single  colours,  from 
the  delicate  clair  de  lune  to  the  intense  black, 
or  brilliant  sang  de  boauf,  was  equally  success- 
ful in  the  improvement  of  the  enamels  over 
glaze,  which  form  those  "  families "  of  coloured 
porcelains  which  have  delighted  artists  all  over 
the  world  for  close  on  two  centuries. 

ENAMELS 

These  enamels  were  used  in  three  colours 
and  in  five,  but,  early  in  their  history,  owing  to 
their  application  to  porcelain  already  decorated 
with  blue  under  glaze,  and  the  use  of  gold,  the 
colours  on  the  enameller's  palette  may  be  said 
to  have  been  seven.  Perhaps  the  greatest 
beauty  of  form  and  brilliancy  of  colouring  is  to 
be  found  in  the  famille  verte  at  its  best.     This 


PLATE   XIV.— TWO   FAMILLE    NOIRE    JARS    WITH    COVERS 
AND  A  VASE 

The  middle  vase  is  a  splendid  specimen  of  the  Kang-he  famille 
noire  decorated  with  dragons  on  a  ground  of  black.  The  ground  is 
washed  with  a  thin  green  enamel,  which  gives  great  brilliancy  and 
distinction  to  the  piece.  The  jars  with  covers  are  also  remarkable 
for  their  beauty.  They  represent  the  famille  noire  painted  with  three 
colours,  after  a  method  that  was  at  once  popular  and  very  effective. 
These  specimens  are  among  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  their 
type  to  be  found  in  Europe. 


OLD   CHINESE  79 

particular  decoration,  no  doubt,  originated  under 
the  Ming,  but  it  was  in  the  Kang-he  period 
that  it  developed,  and  most  European  examples 
are  probably  of  the  more  recent  date.  It  dis- 
appeared after  about  1736,  giving  way  to  the 
famille  rose  type  of  decoration. 


FAMILLE  VERTE 

Into  this  family  all  kinds  of  delightful  forms 
and  designs  were  introduced.  Many  of  the 
dishes  and  covered  jars  are  of  considerable  size; 
the  beakers  and  vases  are  of  almost  every 
shape  employed  by  the  Chinese,  and  the  appear- 
ance may  be  said  to  be  among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  Celestial  ceramics.  In  a  chapter 
on  Kang-he,  Mr.  Hobson  writes  of  the  five- 
colour  decoration  of  this  period  as  consisting 
of  enamel  blue,  brilliant  green  in  two  shades 
laid  on  in  thick  patches,  iron-red,  pale  yellow, 
and  a  manganese  colour,  which  varies  from 
purplish-brown  to  brownish-purple ;  black  also 
was  used  with  admirable  effect,  especially  for 
outlining  the  design.  Mr.  Hobson  adds,  "This 
was    the    period    of   the    finest  famille    verte 


8o  OLD   CHINESE 

porcelain,  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  enamelled  wares. 
The  body  and  glaze  are  faultless,  and  the  forms 
irreproachable ;  the  colours  are  distinguished  by 
full  tints  of  jewel-like  brilliancy,  and  the  designs 
unite  the  bold  grouping  and  breadth  of  treat- 
ment of  the  Ming  decoration  with  the  skilful 
brushwork  of  a  more  polished  age."  This  warm 
appreciation  may  be  justly  extended  to  the 
other  groups  of  porcelain  of  the  period  named 
by  the  French  at  a  later  date. 

FAMILLE   NOIRE  AND   FAMILLE  JAUNE 

The  first  of  these  was  probably  made  to  some 
extent  under  the  Ming,  but  the  green-coated 
black  was  further  developed  under  Kang- 
he,  and  produced  some  very  beautiful  results. 
Especially  has  this  been  the  case  where  the 
background  has  been  of  black,  and,  as  in  many 
pieces,  decoration,  such  as  the  flowers  of  the 
four  seasons,  has  been  applied  in  green,  white, 
and  aubergine.  These  vases,  bowls,  and  other 
pieces  often  show  very  admirable  line  decora- 
tion of  black  on  a  yellow  ground,  which  is  said 
to   distinguish    Ming  and   early    Kang-he.     The 


I 


PLATE    XV.— HAWTHORN    OR    PRUNUS    PATTERN 

Kang-he  blue-and-white  does  not  offer  any  more  generally  ap- 
preciated pattern  than  that  of  the  sprays  or  blossoms  of  prunus  on 
a  ground  of  pulsating  cobalt.  These  examples  are  now  to  be  found  in 
every  collection,  and  the  most  distinguished  of  them  have  brought 
sums  of  over  _;^5ooo.  They  were  originally  designed  to  hold  the 
fragrant  teas,  such  as  are  used  for  gifts  on  New  Year's  Day,  and 
were  decorated  with  designs  which  suggested  to  the  Celestial  mind 
the  coming  of  the  spring.  Like  the  other  specimens  of  the  early 
Kang-he  period,  such  as  the  stoppered  bottles  on  either  side  of  the 
jar,  the  blue  and  the  white  wares  are  here  seen  at  their  very  best, 
and  the  pieces  may  be  said  to  mark  the  perfection  of  this  class  of 
porcelain. 


OLD  CHINESE  83 

diaper  pattern,  the  Joo-e-head,  herring-bone, 
diamond,  and  a  dozen  other  forms,  are  con- 
stantly used  in  this  work.  The  prunus 
blossom  and  spray,  employed  with  so  much 
effect  in  the  blue-and-white  porcelains,  is  also 
seen  to  great  advantage  in  the  Jamille  noire. 
But  here  the  flower  and  branches  are,  of  course, 
in  varying  colours,  and  often  used  in  conjunc- 
tion with  birds  of  bright  plumage,  foliage  of 
other  plants,  and  decorative  rocks,  the  latter 
usually  in  various  shades  of  green.  The  china- 
ware  of  this  particular  make  has  been  through 
a  long  process  and  many  firings.  In  one  of  the 
stages  of  its  production  a  transparent  green 
glaze  appears  to  have  been  floated  over  the 
whole  of  the  black  groundwork,  and  the  result 
is  a  fineness,  a  smoothness  of  surface,  and  a 
beauty  which  make  it,  to  me,  the  crowning 
point  and  culmination  of  Kang-he  wares. 

It  might  be  said  that  among  ten  thousand 
loveliest  porcelains  beloved,  beloved  is  famille 
noire. 

The  yellow  family,  like  the  black,  no  doubt 
originated  with  the  Ming,  but  it  did  not  grow 
to  any  very  wide  extent.     It  was  usually  pro- 


84  OLD   CHINESE 

duced  in  combination  with  the  green  enamel, 
and  made  into  pieces  of  exquisite  beauty ;  upon 
the  brilliant  yellow  ground  is  to  be  found  the 
usual  decoration  of  the  period — symbolic  and 
other  plants,  the  lotus,  the  sacred  flower  of 
Buddha  in  many  forms,  and  the  various  forms 
of  sweetflag  are  largely  in  evidence.  Fre- 
quently pieces  of  the  early  famille  jaune  are 
decorated  with  diaper  pattern  in  bright  enamels, 
surrounding  reserves  of  white  ground,  in  which 
utensils  connected  with  the  worship  of  their 
gods  and  symbolic  objects  and  emblems  are 
depicted.  These  are  delicately  and  artistically 
drawn  in  aubergine  and  green,  yellow  and  black 
enamels,  and  the  ensemble  is  one  of  great 
attractiveness.  As  with  the  other  families  of 
this  period,  the  porcelain  itself  is  at  once  deli- 
cate in  quality  and  elegant  in  form.  Many 
other  kinds  of  ceramics  were  produced  in  the 
reign,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  under-glaze 
rouge  de  fer  and  the  great  variety  of  examples 
in  which  admirably-drawn  scenes  of  Chinese 
social  life  were  enamelled  in  reserves  on 
powdered  blue,  or  the  decoration  was  applied 
and  raised,  such  as  a  branch  of  peach,  or  other 


OLD   CHINESE  85 

symbol,  coloured  with  great  skill,  in  the  manner 
already  spoken  of. 

Writing  generally  in  this  connection,  Captain 
Brinkley  says,  in  effect,  that  the  quality  of 
these  various  enamelled  Kang-he  productions  is 
throughout  exceptionally  good.  Neither  among 
wares  that  preceded  nor  among  those  that  suc- 
ceeded it  were  there  any  of  finer  pate  or  more 
lustrous  and  uniform  glaze.  He  adds,  **The  ex- 
posed portions  of  the  biscuit  resemble  soap- 
stone,  so  smooth  are  they  to  the  touch  and  so 
compact  in  texture.  As  a  rule,  with  very  rare 
exceptions,  the  bottom  of  every  piece  is  care- 
fully finished  and  glazed.  Year-marks  occur 
seldom ;  they  are  commonest  upon  small  and 
choice  specimens.  Other  marks  are  found,  but 
they  usually  take  the  form  of  a  four-footed 
censer,  a  leaf,  or  something  equally  without 
chronological  significance."  It  would  seem  as 
though  the  potters  considered  the  works  were 
for  all  time,  and  needed  no  marks  of  a  parti- 
cular generation ;  or  it  may  be  they  hoped  the 
craftsmanship  would  be  mistaken  for  the  pro- 
duction of  an  earlier  period,  for  the  Chinese 
worship  antiquity,   and  the  old  wares  brought 


86  OLD   CHINESE 

the  largest  prices.  But  large  or  small  as  the 
cost  may  have  been  in  its  native  country,  it 
is  the  Western  world  that  has  made  the  enor- 
mous profits  out  of  antique  porcelains.  The 
European  dealers  and  the  American  buyers 
between  them  have  now  carried  prices  to  a 
highly  artificial  point  which  yet  seems  Hkely  to 
be  maintained. 


CHAPTER  VII 

WHAT  among  Chinese  ceramics  is  there 
left  to  collect  may  well  be  asked  in  this 
connection.  It  is  true  that  at  the  present  day 
most  of  the  examples  of  the  Sung  and  Ming 
dynasties  or,  after  these,  of  the  late  seventeenth 
and  the  eighteenth  centuries  during  the  reigns  of 
Kang-he,  Yung-ching,  and  Keen-lung,  are  known 
and  gathered  into  the  museums  or  the  cabinets 
of  the  connoisseurs.  The  finest  of  these  only 
appear  occasionally  at  the  great  auction-rooms 
and  in  places  where  the  bids  are  enormous. 

But  there  remains  a  very  large  quantity  of 
that  interesting  and  highly  decorative  family  of 
ceramics  belonging  to  the 

LATE  EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY. 

These  are  examples  of  the  large  table  ser- 
vices and  domestic  pieces,  which  were  made  for 
European  use  in  stout  porcelain  of  somewhat 
rough  character,  but  excellent  form  and  pleasing 
decoration. 

87 


88  OLD   CHINESE 

In  the  days  when  Josephine  de  Beauharnais 
Hved  gracefully  among  her  debts  in  the  Rue 
Chautereine,  before  she  met  Napoleon,  the  few 
pieces  of  furniture  that  her  rooms  contained 
were  in  excellent  taste,  but  her  table  was  served 
with  earthenware,  while  a  single  dozen  of  blue- 
and-white  china  plates  were  reserved  for  guests. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  for  some  fifty  or  more  years  after,  few 
families  of  any  station,  provincial  or  urban,  but 
had  within  their  china-cupboards  some  such 
pieces  or,  more  probably,  some  service  of  such 
ware  for  gala  days  and  state  occasions.  This 
porcelain  was  made  under  Kea-King  (1796-1821), 
and  somewhat  earlier,  in  huge  quantities  for  the 
Western  markets.  It  is  divided  from  the  great 
days  of  Kang-he  by  the  Keen-lung  period  of 
perfect  production  and  perfect  painting,  mainly 
in  enamels.  These  large  services  were  produced 
too  late  and  too  lavishly  to  please  the  fastidious 
amateur's  taste,  and  were  obviously  adapted  to 
European,  especially  to  English,  requirements. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  seventeenth-century 
Kang-he  and  the  mid-eighteenth-century  Keen- 
lung  were  largely  made  for  the  Western  trade 


PLATE    XVI.— TWO    KANG-HE    TRUMPET-SHAPED    VASES 
AND    MING    VASE    AND    COVER 

In  the  centre  is  a  characteristic  Ming  blue-and-white  vase  of 
chrysanthemum  scrolls,  which  is  thought  to  belong  to  the  period  of 
1506-1521,  and  shows  the  perfection  of  the  craft  attained  so  early 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  Further  development  is  shown  in  the 
vases  of  Kang-he  which  follow.  These  display  the  mark  of  the  double 
ring.  The  scenes  are  of  a  domestic  and  aristocratic  style  that  belong 
rather  to  the  last  days  of  the  Ming  than  the  warlike  times  that 
followed  on.  But  the  periods  of  Chinese  porcelain,  like  other  arbitrary 
divisions  of  time,  often  overlap  each  other,  and  often  exhibit  in  one  era 
what  are  supposed  to  be  distinctive  marks  of  an  earlier  period. 


OLD   CHINESE  91 

also,  but  those  examples,  as  has  been  shown, 
were  much  more  finely  fashioned  and  a  very 
great  deal  more  costly. 


A  USEFUL  HOBBY 

Still,  as  the  production  of  those  cherished 
periods  are  not  for  all  of  us,  a  less  wealthy 
man  of  taste  may,  I  think,  find  the  china  of 
this  late  period  extremely  interesting  and, 
like  eighteenth-century  furniture — with  which  it 
harmonises  admirably — as  useful  as  it  is  dis- 
tinguished. The  many  admirable  books  on 
porcelain  which  have  been  published  during  the 
last  ten  years  or  so  treat  this  particular  ware 
with  marked  indifference  or  contempt,  but  the 
harvest  of  a  quiet  eye  among  the  old- china 
auctions  shows  one  that  the  prices  are  con- 
stantly rising,  and  that  the  supply  does  not 
increase.  An  ordinary  sale  of  antique  porce- 
lains at  any  of  the  more  famous  auction-rooms, 
from  Christie's  downwards,  will  probably  con- 
tain some  lots  of  this  class  of  china — plates, 
dishes,  tureens,  and  the  like.  Five  pounds 
sterling  will  give  a  good   result,  provided  the 


92  OLD   CHINESE 

pieces   are   not   cracked   and    broken,    and    are 
of  the  boldest  and  best  designs. 

SOMEWHAT   NEGLECTED   BY   IMITATORS 

So  far  the  imitators  and  impostors,  who  are 
extremely  busy  with  all  Oriental  porcelains, 
have,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  jugs  and 
pots  and  plates  and  bowls,  left  the  late  blue- 
and-white  and  coloured  services  alone. 

"ORIENTAL   LOWESTOFT" 

Although  this  period  as  a  whole  has  not 
been  considered  worthy  of  the  attention  of 
the  copyists  and  maker  of  pseudo-antiques,  one 
branch  of  it  has  been  greatly  flattered  by  imi- 
tation. It  will  be  remembered  that  at  one  time 
these  coloured  services,  especially  those  ex- 
amples with  Europen  armorial  bearings,  were 
attributed  to  the  small  English  factory  of 
Lowestoft.  People  collected  this  Chinese  ware 
under  the  name  of  Lowestoft  with  great  avidity, 
and  various  French  firms,  finding  that  they  could 
produce  very  cheaply  a  class  of  hard-paste 
china    which    would    pass    for    this    mis-named 


OLD   CHINESE  93 

porcelain,  developed  the  trade  with  an  amount 
of  4lan  worthy  of  some  nobler  cause.  The  re- 
sult was  that  a  few  years  ago  copies  of  these 
Chinese  services,  which  were  made  to  pass  as 
Lowestoft,  flooded  the  market.  In  the  earlier 
years  the  French  imitations  were  very  carefully 
made  and  decorated.  Of  late  the  fraud  has  been 
exposed,  and  the  present  consignments  would 
neither  deceive  nor  delight  the  most  utter  novice. 


NOT  THE  "TRUE  BLUE" 

It  is  certain  that  the  coloured  examples  of 
this  late  period  have  none  of  the  charming 
delicacy  of  the  Keen-lung  pieces,  and  the  blue 
is  not  the  true  blue  of  Kang-he,  the  white 
is  not  so  clear  and  beautiful,  the  quality  of  the 
porcelain  by  no  means  so  precious.  But  there 
is  the  touch  of  a  still  fine  period  about  all 
these  pieces,  a  sentiment  of  those  graceful, 
leisurely  days  when  every  mistress  of  a  country 
house  took  especial  pleasure  in  her  Oriental 
china,  and  cared  for  it  with 

"  The  soft  white  hand  that  stroked  her  lace 
Or  smoothed  her  wimples." 


94  OLD   CHINESE 

Under  the  Regent,  although  taste  was  de- 
parting from  the  old  Georgian  simplicity,  there 
yet  remained  a  pleasing  interest  in  the  more 
graceful  applied  arts.  Our  own  porcelain  fac- 
tories flourished  and  brought  forth  some  ex- 
cellent things,  but  the  Oriental  wares  that  the 
East  India  Company  had  first  made  possible 
and  then  popular  were  still  prized  and  used 
with  careful  thought  upon  hospitable  occa- 
sions. Such  sets  as  those  held  in  reserve 
by  Josephine  were  then  in  use,  but  destined 
soon  to  disappear  before  a  flood  of  machine- 
made  European  goods  that  overwhelmed  good 
taste  and  caused  the  articles  of  the  table 
to  become  absolutely  undistinguished,  if  not 
offensive.  The  dishes  are  of  various  oval 
forms,  or  are  long,  rather  narrow,  and  with  cut 
corners  that  give  an  octagonal  result.  These 
sets  included  most  of  the  same  objects  that 
a  modern  service  provides,  from  soup  plates 
to  sweetmeat  dishes.  Hot-water  plates  and 
one  or  two  other  pieces,  now  d&mod^y  are 
also  included. 


OLD  CHINESE  95 


GEORGIAN  SERVICES 

Thus  the  amateur  will  find  that  he  can, 
with  some  agreeable  labour,  reconstruct  a  com- 
plete service.  Perhaps  the  plates  of  one  course 
may  not  be  decorated  with  precisely  the  same 
design  as  those  used  for  the  next,  but  the 
colour,  shape,  and  size  may  be  identical,  and 
the  ensemble  perfectly  preserved.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  even  when  the  same  pattern  is  carried 
out  on  all  the  pieces,  they  will  not  be  found  on 
close  inspection  to  be  quite  similar.  For  the 
design  was  applied  in  under-glaze  blue  or  over- 
glaze  enamels  by  various  hands,  and  there  are 
always  slight  changes  that  give  a  trifle  of  in- 
dividuality and  interest  to  each  separate  piece. 
As  I  have  said,  the  period  during  which  this 
late  blue-and-white  was  shipped  to  Europe  syn- 
chronises with  the  vogue  for  Chinese  armorial 
porcelain  services  decorated  in  China  with  coats- 
of-arms,  mottoes,  crests.  But  while,  in  our 
time,  these  coloured  services  were  mistaken 
for  old  Lowestoft — for  which  there  was  good 
demand — the  late  blue-and-white  has  never  had 


96  OLD   CHINESE 

the  advantage  of  being  considered  an  eighteenth- 
century  EngHsh  production — to  my  mind  the  de- 
signs are  too  good  for  EngHsh  work.  Indeed,  it 
has  always  been  treated,  until  the  present  time, 
as  of  little  account.  Decoratively  speaking,  it 
is  infinitely  more  valuable  than  the  English 
services  of  Spode,  Ironstone,  and  the  like  of 
the  same  time,  which  now  fetch  good  prices, 
but,  as  I  have  said,  it  has  hardly  become  the 
fashion,  and  there  still  remains  a  chance  for 
the  modest  collector.  This  class  of  ware,  to 
which  is  sometimes  added  an  over-glaze  design 
of  red  and  gold,  has  been  occasionally  attri- 
buted to  Japan,  which  country  certainly  pro- 
duced examples,  but  not  so  largely  as  was  at 
one  time  reported.  From  the  useful  plates 
and  dishes  of  these  services  one  may  turn 
to  slightly  more  fanciful  and  uncommon  objects, 
although  in  this  connection  almost  every 
object  is  primarily  for  use.  There  are,  however, 
vases  of  this  period  in  no  small  numbers,  and 
many  bowls  and  tea-bottles  are  to  be  found, 
although  they  belong,  perhaps,  to  the  beginning 
of  the  time  of  this  class  of  production. 


OLD   CHINESE  97 


DECORATIVE  PIECES 

Large  wash-hand  basins  with  bottles  for 
water  may  be  discovered  in  this  style  of  blue- 
and-white,  as  well  as  many  smaller  ones  in- 
tended for  shaving  purposes.  The  fine,  heavy 
cisterns  and  flower-tubs  and  pots  of  this  period 
grow  less  common  every  year,  and  the  enormous 
bowls  for  gold  and  silver  fish  are  now  being 
sought. 

PRICES  MAY  GO  UP 

A  little  while,  and  those  who  appreciate  this 
sort  of  thing  will  have  brought  all  the  straggling 
specimens  back  into  collections,  and  the  value 
will  increase  considerably.  Some  of  the  plates, 
dishes,  and  so  forth  have  a  pleasing  design 
worked  on  the  paste  and  under  the  glaze.  This 
style  of  work  has  been  a  favourite  decoration 
for  many  centuries  with  Chinese  ware,  but  when 
it  is  seen  in  this  period  it  always  marks  a  care- 
ful piece  of  work,  perhaps  made  for  European 
markets,    but   produced   with   a   finer   sense   of 


98  OLD   CHINESE 

art  than  the  Celestial  potter  usually  cares  to 
bestow  on  porcelains  intended  for  the  "foreign 
devil." 

These  large  services  are  still  generally  spoken 
of  as  Nankin^  a  name  with  a  pleasing  suggestion 
of  beauty  still  clinging  to  it,  for  that  was  the 
Chinese  port  through  which  they  issued  on  their 
journey  westward. 

While  many  of  the  plates  intended  for  dessert 
are  delicate  and  light,  the  square  salad-bowls 
and  many  other  pieces  have  the  very  heavy, 
strong  quality  which  is  characteristic  of  most 
parts  of  these  services.  The  tureens,  for  ex- 
ample, are  generally  of  great  thickness,  the 
handles  are  solid  heads  of  animals  or  models 
of  fruit ;  the  vegetable  dishes  should  withstand 
the  roughest  handling,  but  are  often  of  charming 
shape  and  pattern,  frequently  made  in  a  set  of 
five,  to  fit  round  a  tray  which  encloses  them. 
Sauce-boats,  salt-cellars,  plates  with  a  broad 
flat  rim — the  native  Chinese  plate,  whatever 
its  size,  is  of  a  saucer  shape — milk-jugs  with 
covers,  teacups  with  handles,  all  these  and  a 
dozen  other  pieces  were  specially  made  for 
our     Occidental     uses,     and     were     immensely 


OLD   CHINESE  99 

popular  here.  The  blue-and-white  tea-sets, 
often  lightened  with  a  little  gold,  were  some- 
what earlier  than  the  large  services,  and  have 
become  more  difficult  to  obtain  of  late. 

The  decoration  of  these  late  pieces  is  very 
much  on  the  lines  of  seventeenth-century 
Chinese  porcelains.  Landscapes,  animals,  birds, 
and  flowers  are,  however,  more  freely  used  than 
the  representations  of  native  gods  and  saints 
or  the  symbols  of  various  Eastern  religions. 
Much  of  the  ornamentation  of  these  late  eigh- 
teenth-century porcelains  has  very  absurdly 
been  called  a  variant  on  the  also  misnamed 
"willow"  pattern.  That  design,  which  was  un- 
fortunate enough  to  fall  into  English  hands 
and  become  transformed  and  deformed  late  in 
the  eighteenth  century  into  the  vulgar  "  willow " 
pattern  of  our  own  heavy  transfer-printed  bour- 
geois services,  has  as  little  to  do  with  a  willow 
as  have  the  designs  on  these  plates  and  dishes 
to  do  with  the  English  rendering  of  the  Chinese 
idea. 

The  bamboo,  the  lotus,  the  tree  peony,  with 
the  chrysanthemum  and  winter  -  blossoming 
plum,    are    among    the    more    realistic    designs 


100  OLD   CHINESE 

used,  but  the  conventional  patterns — suited,  as 
it  were,  for  any  market — are  those  generally 
employed  by  the  Chinese  for  this,  the  final, 
class  of  ware  now  sold  to  the  public  as  "  Old 
Nankin." 


llie  plalcs  «re  printed  by  BrMRnSR  (V  Sons,  Ltd..  Derl.y  and  London 
The  icxt  at  the  Ballantvnk  Pkkss,  EJiuburgK 


MARKS   ON 

CHINESE    PORCELAIN 


FU  SHOU   SHUANG  CH'UAN 

A  Bat  and  two  Peaches,  reading 

"Happiness  and  longevity" 


A  FOOR-LEAVED  FLOV/ER 


MEI    HUA 
A  Sprig  of  Prunus,  with  two  rings 


THE  JOO'E  HEAD 


THE  "CHANG"  or  KNOT, 
said  to  signify  longevity 


FIVE  CIRCLES   WITH 
FILLETS 


A  STORK  OS  HEROM 
WITHOUT  A  TAIL 


A   FLOWER   WITH    SIXTEEN 
LEAVES 


'  n  TING,  or  INCENSE-BURNER 


TING 
Four-legged  loceosc-bumer 


L__ 


SYMBOLIC    MARKS    AND    DECORATIONS 


I 


PA    PAO.      THE    EIGHT   PRECIOUS  THINGS 


FANG-SHfeNC 

A  Loz«o(e  mih  open  frusc, 

■  symbol  of  Tictor7 


CHOEH 
A  Pair  of  Rhinoccro9-horn  Cupi 


A  Huiging  Musical  Stone  of  Jadr 


LUN.     A  Bell 


HUA.     Lotus  flower 


LO      A  Conch  Shell ;  the  chankshell  of 
the  Buddhists 


PING.    A  Vase  with  Cover 


SAN.    A  State  Umbrella 


KAI.    A  Canopy 


YU.     A  Pair  of  Fish 


CHANG.     "Entrails":  an  Endless  Knot, 
and  also  eui  emblem  of  longevity 


The  Eight  Buddhist  Emblems  of  Happy  Augury 


SYIVTBOLICAL  MARKS  AND  ORNAMENTS 


THE  PEARL 


:ia  SVASTIKA  SYMBOL 
i»taicd  ia  •  Icxng 


PI   TING   lU    1 
I  A  briuh  pcnolf  cnlie  of  !i>V,  etid 

cciouc  erf  lon^cTity,  rej^inc  "M^y 
thin^  be  n!ic^  .-*  yoo  wuh  I " 


":^. 


THE  CONCH   SHF.LL 


A  UUSICAL  INSTRUUEHI 


A  PAIR  or   FICHES 
Aa  cmbkm  ol  domcatx  h»pp«acc9 


LIEN   HUA 

Tbt  Che  plaat,  or  "Lotuk  DlnMa" 


LING   CHIH 


MARKS  OF  THE  MING  DYNASTY 


Hung  Woo  (1368-1398) 


1 


'Am 


Yung  Lo  (I403-I424) 


l^ 


n 


HsUan  Te  (1426-1435) 


Cheng  Hua  (1465  1487) 


Ch'^ag  Hua  (1465-1487) 


ifA 


Hung  Chih  (1488-1505) 


(IS(«-IS«| 


CHIA  CHINC 


LUNG   CHINC 
US^-l57J) 


iv 

$S^ 


WAN    LI 

(1S7J-16I9) 


TIEN   CHI 
I16JI-1627) 


THE  CH'ING   DYNASTY 


IPI 


rbni 

SHUN   CHIH   (l«44-l66i) 


m 


rtn^AN 


i 


K  ANG  HSI  <iM>  17») 


CH  UNC  CHftN 

(|6«  l&ul 


sm 


II  ill 

-'^^   '    ***    YUNG  CHftNO  (I7»^^73SI 


'"Si't'i 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DO^         j,^0^ 

^T^OF  25  CENTS 
AN  INITIAL  FINE  °*^„,  ^^  „^^ 

\.    I.CSESSED  FOR  FAIV-  pENAUTY 

WILL  BE  ^S^^tf-HE   DATE  ^UE-  J"^        quRTH 

DAY     AND    TO    $1-  __== 

OVERDUE. 


YO  33Z70 


115118 


M5' 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


